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Recommended books
In no particular order.
Read within the
last few years.
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This list was started on 9 April 2008 and was probably last updated in 2009. I'll be adding to it gradually, and may add some comments. All of the books were bought from Amazon. That made it easy to produce the list, because they keep a record of everything I buy. Unfortunately, the list doesn't include books I've picked up at Barnes & Noble or Borders or Costco.
It may seem strange that there is no fiction on the list. I don't think I've read a novel since I was ordered to do so while in college, but I just don't know why. Maybe a psychiatrist can explain it. I read a lot for pleasure, but I get pleasure from learning. I use TV and movies for fiction, and printed media and the Web for reality. Your theories are invited.
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Why Is Sex Fun?: The Evolution Of Human Sexuality
Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America
Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible
The Pluto Files
Rudolph, Frosty, and Captain Kangaroo: The Musical Life of Hecky Krasnow-Producer of the World's Most Beloved Children's Songs
Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body
Klezmer America: Jewishness, Ethnicity, Modernity
Boom!: Voices of the Sixties Personal Reflections on the '60s and Today
The Bagel: A Cultural History
Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution
English as a Second F*cking Language: How to Swear Effectively, Explained in Detail with Numerous Examples Taken From Everyday Life
Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret Parts
Countryman's Edition of Morey's Ancient Peoples by Morey, William and Irving N
Too Fat to Fish
How the States Got Their Shapes
Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History
Tough Choices: A Memoir
The Man Who Saved Britain: A Personal Journey into the Disturbing World of...
A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead
Semantic Antics: How and Why Words Change Meaning
Smile When You're Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer
The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature
The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell's Secret
Abraham's Children: Race, Identity, and the DNA of the Chosen People
Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We're Afraid to Talk About It
Jewtopia: The Chosen Book for the Chosen People
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The Secret Life Of Lobsters: How Fishermen And Scientists Are Unraveling The Mysteries Of Our Favorite Crustacean
Always Magic in the Air: The People And Music of the Brill Building Era
What the Dormouse Said: How the 60s Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer
Five Quarts : A Personal and Natural History of Blood
To Rule the Waves : How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World
How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It
National Pastime: How Americans Play Baseball and the Rest of the World Plays Soccer
The Island at the Center of the World : The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan, the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America
Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church
Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time
Hatless Jack: The President, the Fedora, and the History of American Style
Lucent and the Crash of Telecom
Inside BMW, the Most Admired Car Company in the World
Tough Calls: AT&T and the Hard Lessons Learned from the Telecom Wars
Sweet and Low : A Family Story
The Pentagon: A History
The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell's Secret
The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible
Only a Game
Piano: The Making of a Steinway Concert Grand
Triangle: The Fire That Changed America
Other Immigrants: The Global Origins of the American People
If You Can't Say Anything Nice, Say It In Yiddish
Einstein: His Life and Universe
Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal
Desperate Networks : Starring Katie Couric Les Moonves Simon Cowell Dan Rather Jeff Zucker Teri Hatcher Conan O'Brien Donald Trump and a Host of Others
The Rise and Fall of the House of Barneys: A Family Tale of Chutzpah
But He Was Good to His Mother : The Lives and Crimes of Jewish Gangsters
Orange County Choppers (TM): The Tale of the Teutuls
The Language of Names: What We Call Ourselves and Why It Matters
The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket
Shackleton's Forgotten Expedition : The Voyage of the Nimrod
Where's My Jetpack?: A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future that Never Arrived
How to Feed Friends and Influence People: The Carnegie Deli...A Giant Sandwich, a Little Deli, a Huge Success
Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power
Service and Style: How the American Department Store Fashioned the Middle Class
Remembering Woolworth's: A Nostalgic History of the World's Most Famous Five-and-Dime
The Math Instinct: Why You're a Mathematical Genius (Along with Lobsters, Birds, Cats, and Dogs)
Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination
The Great Escape: Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World
iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It
The Moose That Roared: The Story of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, a Flying Squirrel, and a Talking Moose
More Than They Bargained for: The Rise and Fall of Korvettes
Warm Up the Snake: A Hollywood Memoir
Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web
The Senator and the Socialite: The True Story of America's First Black Dynasty
The Bronfmans: The Rise and Fall of the House of Seagram
The Mansion on the Hill : Dylan, Young, Geffen, Springsteen, and the Head-on Collision of Rock and Commerce
Follow the Music: The Life and High Times of Elektra Records in the Great Years of American Pop Culture
End of the Line : The Rise and Fall of AT&T
The Dream Machine : J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal
Fumbling the Future: How Xerox Invented, Then Ignored, the First Personal Computer
Tough Calls: AT&T and the Hard Lessons Learned from the Telecom Wars
How Rock 'n' Roll Changed America (Pivotal Moments in American History)
Off the Record: The Technology and Culture of Sound Recording in America
Repeated Takes: A Short History of Recording and Its Effects on Music
Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins Of The Internet
Capturing Sound : How Technology Has Changed Music
Playback: From the victrola to MP3, 100 Years of Music, Machines, and Money
The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph
The Last Lone Inventor : A Tale of Genius, Deceit, and the Birth of Television
They Made America: Two Centuries of Innovators from the Steam Engine to the Search Engine
Milton S. Hershey's Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire, and Utopian Dreams
From Baghdad to Brooklyn : Growing Up in a Jewish-Arabic Family in Midcentury America
Dave Barry's Money Secrets : Like: Why Is There a Giant Eyeball on the Dollar?
But Wait! There's More! : The Irresistible Appeal And Spiel Of Ronco And Popeil
Living Life Inside The Lines: Tales From The Golden Age Of Animation
The Cajuns : A People's Story of Exile and Triumph
iCon Steve Jobs : The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business
Kinky Friedman's Guide to Texas Etiquette : Or How to Get to Heaven or Hell Without Going Through Dallas-Fort Worth
Why Do Men Have Nipples? Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
Buried by the Times : The Holocaust and America's Most Important Newspaper
Who Invented the Computer? The Legal Battle That Changed Computing History
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